SUNY Downstate -- It is well known that the onset of puberty marks the end of the optimal period for learning language and certain spatial skills, such as computer/video game operation. Recent work published in the journal Science by Sheryl Smith, PhD, professor of physiology and pharmacology, and colleagues at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn shows that a novel brain receptor, a4bd (alpha four-beta-delta) GABA-A, emerges at puberty in the hippocampus, part of the brain that controls learning and memory.
